Magic the gathering born of the gods black cards

Has it really been four months already? Seems like just a few weeks ago I was writing the Theros reviews. Guess it's time to dive into Born of the Gods, the new set that is hitting the shelves on February 1st and making us spend all our money updating our decks. The cards we will be drafting our of pack one from, and making up half our sealed pools, in Limited for the next four months. So let's dive into the new toys as we go card by card look to at their effect on the game.

Archetype of Finality – 4BB – Enchantment Creature – Gorgon – U – Creatures you control have deathtouch. Creatures your opponents control lose deathtouch and can't have or gain deathtouch. 2/3. Another six-drop, yeah the white one if the only competitive one in this cycle. Still dropping this late in Limited is going to be sick as all your dorks now eat people all the time.

Ashiok's Adept – 2B – Creature – Human Wizard – U – Whenever you cast a spell that targets Ashiok's Adept, each opponent discards a card. 1/3. I so want to build mono-black heros. This plus Agent of the Fates and some ordeals plus other enchantments could so be a fun deck. Also you know I'm a discard player in Limited so yeah I'm going to draft this in some kind of W/B deck.

Asphyxiate – 1BB – Sorcery – C – Destroy target untapped creature. Yes, I will alter on of these so it looks like a man hung himself, think David Carradine. I will have to say this is an awesome removal spell for Limited.

Bile Blight – BB – Instant – U – Target creature and all creatures with the same name as the creature get -3/-3 until end of turn. Got to say this is going to be the awesomeness of the new cards. Loving this removal spell in the new Standard. Even in Limited this is going to be nice to take and eat dorks with. Even better if you ear eating tokens.

Black Oak of Odunos – 2B – Creature – Zombie Treefolk – U – Defender. B, tap another untapped creature you control: Black Oak of Odunos gets +1/+1 until end of turn. 0/5. Zombie Trees! So we have this and Ghoultree as the only zombie trees in the game that aren't changelings. Personally, this has to be my favorite creature type pairing. I really want to start brewing a treefolk deck for Commander. Then again I thing this is going to be just a reserve dork for Limited.

Champion of Stray Souls – 4BB – Creature – Skeleton Warrior – M – 3BB, tap, sacrifice X other creatures: Return X target creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield. 5BB: Put Champion of Stray Souls on top of your library from your graveyard. 4/4. Hmm, might find a role in some kind of Reanimator deck in Draft or Commander, but I'm just going to call this jank as we still don't know the last set in the block yet.

Claim of Erebos – 1B – Enchantment – Aura – Enchant creature. Enchanted creature has “1B, tap: Target player loses 2 life.” Maybe for the Heroic and Inspired decks in Limited, but it's so slow. And why wouldn't you just attack with the creature, well maybe if you put it on a wall... no, this card just sucks.

Drown is Sorrow – 1BB – Sorcery – All creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. Scry 1. Nice! Black is looking so good in this set. Just kill all those little 2/2 dorks and then fix your top deck card, yeah this is going to be a great card in a number of formats.

Eater of Hope – 5BB – Creature – Demon – R – Flying. B, sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Eater of Hope. 2B, sacrifice two other creatures: Destroy target creature. I might just see if I can find this a home in a Commander deck. The fact that he eats your other dudes means that he is going to suck in Limited.

Eye Gouge – B – Instant – C – target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. If it's a Cyclops, destroy it. Nice Limited removal spell in Limited if you see a Cyclops, but still this will turn on Heroic dorks if you don't end up killing them.

Fate Unraveler – 3B – Enchantment Creature – Hag – Whenever an opponent draws a card, Fate Unraveler Deals 1 damage to that player. ¾. Totally going to get one of these for my group hug deck in Commander. Still this is cool in Limited as it will live verses most removal and should plink away at your opponent's life total.

Fated Return – 4BBB – Instant – R – Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. If gains indestructible. If it's your turn, scry 2. Not a bad follow up to your removal in Limited. Might see play in a Reanimator Commander deck. Still just too much mana for competitive.

Felhide Brawler – 1B – Creature – Minotaur – C – Felhide Brawler can't block unless you control another Minotaur. 2/2. Going to have to say that seeing how we have a sweet minotaur lord in this set, that we will see later, this is going to be sweet not just in Limited but also in Standard as the Bloodrage Clan take over the world.

Forsaken Drifters – 3B – Creature – Zombie – C – When Forsaken Drifters dies, put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard. 4/2. Maybe there's a graveyard deck in Block that wants this, but I'm just going to call it jank until I see the last set in the block.

Gild – 3B – Sorcery – R – Exile target creature. Put a colorless artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has “Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.” Me want all the gold! This will see some love in the sideboards of Standard Mono-black and any other format were the Gods need to be answered. Yup, want like ten copies of this.

Herald of Torment – 1BB – Enchantment Creature – Demon – R – Bestow 3BB. Flying. At the beginning of you upkeep, you lose 1 life. Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has flying. 3/3. Not bad in Limited, might even see play in Commander and that Solar Flare deck for Block. I like this.

Marshmist Titan – 6B – Creature – Giant – C – Marshmist Titan cost X less to cast, where X is your devotion to black. 4/5. I think this is going to make some waves in Mono-black devotion in Block. Also cool for Limited.

Odunos River Trawler – 2B – Creature – Zombie – U – Whenever Odunos River Trawler enters the battlefield, return target enchantment creature card from your graveyard to your hand. W, sacrifice Odunos River Trawler: Return target enchantment creature card from your graveyard to your hand. 2/2. Liking this in Limited as you can drop this and bounce back at least two enchantment dorks back from the graveyard.

Pain Seer – 1B – Creature – Human Wizard – R – Inspired – Whenever Pain Seer becomes untapped, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. You lose life equal to that card's converted mana cost. 2/2. While it's not a true Dark Confidant it is just about the only card that is really worth wanting to make the Inspired mechanic work. Best thing to do with this is turn one Springleaf Drum, turn two cast this, activate drum to tap this and cast Thoughtseize. Then just live the dream to treat this like a Dark Confidant. So it might just be good in Constructed.

Sanguimancy – 4B – Sorcery – U – You draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is your devotion to black. Okay, so this set is so geared towards hoping you draft a sick mono-colored deck, which this is so awesome in if you are mono-black. I think this is also going to see play in the mono-black Block deck.

Servant of Tymaret – 2B – Creature – Zombie – C- Inspired – Whenever Servant of Tymaret becomes untapped, each opponent loses 1 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. 2B: Regenerate Servant of Tymaret. 1/3. I think this is just too much work to get it to make that much of a power player even in Limited.

Shrike Harpy – 3BB – Creature – Harpy – U – Flying. Tribute 2. (As this creature enters the battlefield, an opponent of your choice may place two +1/+1 counters on it.) When Shrike Harpy enters the battlefield, if tribute wasn't paid, target opponent sacrifices a creature. 2/2. This is only uncommon WTF? Totally happy that I picked my devotion to black for the pre-release. This is so good in Limited, but out classed in constructed as you could just cast Shadowborn Demon.

Spiteful Returned – 1B – Enchantment Creature – Zombie – U – Bestow 3B. Whenever Spiteful Returned or enchanted creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1. 1/1. This is so cool for a number of decks. In Limited with some pumps it will win games unless answered, and with Madcap Skills this could even see some Standard love.

Warchanter of Mogis – 3BB – Creature – Minotaur Shaman – C – Inspired – Whenever Warchanter of Mogis becomes untapped, target creature you control gains intimidate until end of turn. 3/3. Okay so that Minotaur tribal deck I'm going to start putting together for Standard, yeah this is going to be the five-drop in it. Also a great five-drop for Limited.

Weight of the Underworld – 3B – Enchantment – Aura – C – Enchant creature. Enchanted creature gets -3/-2. Well not that good of a removal spell in Limited it is a nice card for it. Even if you don't kill the target you will shrink it down.

So I have to say that Black is looking awesome for Limited. Also we have a handful of nice cards for constructed decks. I really think we are working towards building a powerful mono-black deck in Block. Inspired still sucks. Alright times to get to work on the red cards.

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Jeffrey Carmichael is a long time gamer living in Northern Maine. Having studied Education and Creative Writing in college Jeffrey has found a passion for writing advice to new players. His success with collectible card gaming includes 2000 Maine State Champion for the Young Jedi game. A ranting of over 1900 in the Star Wars CCG. Currently he is working on entering the Pro Level of Magic the Gathering by entering PTQs. Jeffrey's MTGO name is KDPFenThing.